Why compliance management is important

There are two primary scenarios a non-compliant business can face: bad standing in the state of incorporation (or state of qualification) and/or "piercing the corporate veil."

Bad standing. Most states require corporations and limited liability companies to file annual reports and pay the applicable filing fees, and some may also impose a franchise tax. Not meeting these obligations in a timely manner causes your company to be in “bad standing” in the state. Consequences of being in bad standing can include:

Revocation of the corporate/LLC status

Administrative dissolution of the company by the state

Piercing the corporate veil. Corporations and LLCs must act like corporations and LLCs, showing separation between the owner(s) and the business. Maintaining a business bank account, transacting business under the company name, and satisfying all ongoing formalities, such as holding annual meetings of corporation’s directors and shareholders (corporations) are steps that must be taken to protect the entity status. Piercing the corporate veil happens when a business is deemed to be operating more like a sole proprietorship/general partnership than a corporation or LLC. Consequences include:

Personal assets of the owner are no longer protected.

A judge can award damages to the plaintiff in a lawsuit from the owner’s personal assets as well as the corporation’s or LLC’s assets.

Features & benefits

BizFilings understands the complexities of staying compliant, which is why we created BizComply, an online business compliance management calendar and tool that features:

Alert Manager. Track and be alerted of necessary compliance events. Based on your company’s state of incorporation, and state of qualification (if applicable), you’ll be prompted with critical due dates and necessary tasks. You set the notification parameters that are most convenient for you, and can designate multiple email addresses to receive alerts. Additionally, you can set up unlimited, new/custom events.

Company Dashboard. Provides an at-a-glance overview of key company data, such as tax ID numbers, state file numbers and names and addresses of directors and officers (corporations) or members/managers (LLCs). If you formed your corporation or LLC with BizFilings, your information will be pre-populated upon log in.

Forms Library. Access, download and customize crucial forms for meeting state requirements. Certain data can be populated into forms by BizComply, and all forms are easy to save, store and print.

If you have multiple companies, you can manage all of them in BizComply using a single username and password.

Key Benefits

As a busy small business owner, the last thing on your mind may be compliance. BizComply notifies you of upcoming events and provides you the information and/or tools to meet them—keeping your business in good standing.

BizComply FAQs

What is BizComply?

BizComply is a web-based application that outlines critical business compliance events, notifies you before these events need to happen, provides access to important forms and houses your company's important information in one convenient location.

Because corporations and limited liability companies (LLCs) face a number of ongoing compliance requirements, such as filing annual reports with and paying any necessary state fees, BizComply is a useful compliance management tool to ensure that you don’t miss any important requirements (which can have serious repercussions and can lead to the loss of the limited liability protection).

View our BizComply demo for an overview of BizComply and its features.

What does the Alert Manager do?

Alert Manager lets you track important company events and notifies you in advance of those events. Based on the state in which your company is incorporated, and any states in which you are registered to transact business (through a process called foreign qualification), if applicable, the Alert Manager will automatically recognize certain critical dates, such as state annual report due dates, and notify you. You set your notification time frame (for example to be notified 30 days before a due date) and also to which email address(es) the alerts should be sent.

The Alert Manager comes pre-populated with certain common business tasks, but you can add unlimited custom alerts so you never miss what’s important to your particular business.